Another new year has dawned, and with it, the soft light of “it can be even better than this, darling” is shining upon you, coaxing you forward.
You’re likely already scribbling resolutions on the backs of napkins and receipts, filling your cart with organizing bins and binders, planning retreats with yourself, and vowing to become more of something or to do less of something else.
Each new year brims with possibility. Like hot coffee on a cold morning, we drink in the elixir of a fresh beginning. It’s positively addictive, that chance for a do-over, for an upgrade to Me 2.0.
It’s exciting…and exhilarating…and uplifting…all until it isn’t.
Until the darkness of doubt descends on our newly birthed plans and whispers:
You can’t.
Why you?
Why now?
Who do you think you are?
It’s selfish.
It’s unrealistic.
You’re too busy.
You’re too lazy.
You’re not smart enough.
You don’t have the resources.
What will they think?
Whether we’re making resolutions…or setting goals…or changing careers…or writing a life plan…the voice shows up. And it is NOT on our side.
Instead of casting the soft light of dawn, it shines a harsh spotlight on our past failures, unmasks our vulnerabilities, and hands a bullhorn to our inner critic. This voice makes us shrink back in shame. We step backward, into the darkness of old habits, into well-worn paths, into the person we’ve been instead of the one we can become.
But what if instead of covering your ears and stepping backward, you answered the voice and stepped forward?
There’s no one stopping you but you.
You have answers to these questions. You are allowed to counter these statements when the voice hurls them in your direction, to cancel them out with the truth.
You can’t.
Why you?
Why now?
Who do you think you are?
It’s selfish.
It’s unrealistic.
You’re too busy.
You’re too lazy.
You’re not smart enough.
You don’t have the resources.
What will they think?
That voice? It’s just fear talking. It’s your worst self…trying desperately to stay alive, using doubt and shame as its weapons of self preservation.
But you…you are so much bigger than that voice.
So this time, when you scribble out your fledgling dream, hatch your plan, or glimpse your vision…this time when you are ready to begin, and the voice shows up, don’t let it get the last word.
Drive the dark of doubt away, and show us what you can do.
